Patent Issuance and Marking Requirements

When a patent application is found to have met the requirements for patentability, a notice
of allowance will be sent to the applicant's patent attorney. Once the notice of allowance is
received, the applicant need only be concerned about the following items:

Payment of the Issue Fee

When the patent examiner is satisfied that the patent application meets all of the requirements for patentability, the examiner will issue a Notice
of Allowance. The applicant will be given three months from the date of the notice to pay an
issue fee. If the issue fee is not submitted in time, the application will be regarded as
abandoned. However, the patent office may accept a late payment of the issue fee if the delay
is shown to be unavoidable.

The patent is issued as soon as possible after the date of payment, dependent upon the volume
of printing on hand. The formal patent certificate is then mailed to the inventor's patent
attorney. When the patent is issued, the patent attorney and the inventor should review the
patent for errors. Errors in the patent can usually be corrected through the issuance of a
Certificate of Correction.

Patent Marking

A person who makes or sells patented product should mark that product with the word
"Patent", or the abbreviation "Pat.", followed by the patent number. Frequently, the
phrase is preceded by a country indication, such as "United States Patent 9,000,000" or "U.S.
Pat. No. 9,000,000." A patent holder may not recover damages from an infringer unless products
produced under the patent were properly marked, or unless the infringer was duly notified of
the infringement and continued to infringe after the notice. The marking of an article as
patented when it is not patented is against the law and subjects the offender to a penalty.

Some persons mark articles sold with the terms "Patent Applied For" or "Patent
Pending." These phrases have no legal effect, but only give information that an
application for patent has been filed in the Patent and Trademark Office. False use of these
phrases or their equivalent is prohibited.

Maintenance Fees

All issued utility patents are subject to fees that must be paid to maintain the patent in
force. These fees are due at 3-1/2, 7-1/2 and 11-1/2 years from the date the patent is
granted and can be paid without a surcharge during the "window-period" (the six
month period preceding each due date). The maintenance fees may be paid up to six months late
with the payment of a surcharge. Failure to pay the current maintenance fee before these
deadlines may result in expiration of the patent.

There is no need to pay any maintenance fees in the United States for design patents. Design
patents will always extend for their full 14 year duration from the date of issuance.